Has any one heard Magico Speakers?

Ozzy62,

I'm not a speaker manufacturer like you, so I do not know the price of manufacture. I imagine that, as with anything, as numbers produced increase, the price per unit goes down. This is well known to most with ultra high end, (Read: low numbers produced) products.

"I am not going to slam ANY speaker's sonic merits w/o hearing them."

No, but you'll question their value without, right?

(This reminds me of a statement that an ol' College Chemistry Professor used to share with us, "You can't beat first hand information".)

Being that we are all different, we are likely to have different veiws of the term "value" and will have different criteria in which we base the term. Experience, exposure, acuity and wealth likely have some input as well.

"Ok, you are right. I should hear them. But I still contend that no matter how good they sound, someone will make a full range speaker that will compete at the same price, or less."

That, of course, may be true ... although I'm not so sure after hearing the Magico Monitors. Which $20K full range would you compare them to? (Oops, I forgot, you have not heard the Magico monitors). Do you plan on attending CES?

"... but it's up to the buyer to make his decision and spend his $$$$."

How very true. What seems apparent is that terms such as value and quality are different for each of us and that it usually helps to have first hand experience.

Best wishes,

Jack Seaton

Can someone post what their listening exp has been in a bit more detail other than they are exceptional? How do they compare to others, perhaps more well known speakers? How about comparing to say Kharma 3.2? Or any others? Can someone give us a sense what they are like in character?

While I’ve posted to a discussion groups only about twice a year, I have to open my mouth here (and it can get big). First to state upfront; I'm a dealer for Magico and I’ve only recently received my first pair. As a dealer for Avalon, Kharma, Martin Design and Fried and previously JM lab Utopias and numerous others I think I can speak with some degree of authority as to their sound / production value.

For starters the Magico Mini is by far the best production value (cost of materials and labor) (I’ll get to their sound below) I've seen in any upper end speaker, say over $3,000, in terms of what it cost to make vs. the retail price. Jeff Rowland, who uses them for his reference, confirmed this extraordinary value when I asked him about their cost to manufacture. They should sell in excess of $30k based on production cost no if, and, or butts. It doesn't matter if it is in your price range or not or if you consider expensive speakers to be silly or you're ready to seriously consider one. They offer a better production value than any other hi-end speaker I know of.

Having said that, production value doesn’t mean much as to how something sounds. In the case of the Mini’s the sound is out of this world fantastic in every way possible and nothing currently in my store offers as good a sound. Note: I have other speakers in similar price ranges but do not currently have other brands that are more expensive so I can’t say these will be better than my other brands more expensive models. I can be most confident nothing will beat their value.

The Minis have perfect tonal balance, lots of authority, huge, huge, huge (did I mention huge?) soundstage – fantastic dynamics, resolution and everything else you can think of. These will be what I personally listen to for the foreseeable future. I like subs for some music with most any speaker and a $2,000 Velodyne sub works just fine when called upon (the Minis have plenty of output to 40hz and fade fast below that). For the person who wants a truly state of the art speaker in a most elegant package this is it.

Why did I become a Magico dealer? Because a terrific customer of mine, who I had sold a pair of JM lab Diva Utopia’s ($11500) later bought a pair of Magico’s and told me they made his Divas sound downright poor. He couldn’t stop raving about them over a period of months! Not to mention Jeff Rowland telling me over and over how special they are – and he’s heard a few speakers in his day.

I heard them in Denver RMAF and the room/setup wasn’t good enough for me to take the plunge (hey, these aren’t cheap!). So I had a trusted audio friend (who was also in Denver and not so impressed but totally impressed with the technology) and was about to travel to Oakland pay a visit to Magico to further investigate. Alon has been most gracious by the way in every contact with my friend and myself. This audio fanatic, super great ear’d friend came back and told me “these are the real things, buy them”. He said Denver did them no justice and he further thought they were unquestionably better than my current top 2 way at the same price. This friend who has owned JM lab Utiopia’s and Kharma’s knows what he’s talking about enough so I took his advice. He now wants a pair of Minis as well saying they are the best 2 way speaker made. I ordered, I heard, I believe.

So, say what you will, the proof is in the listening and when set up right the Minis will put all squabbles to rest in under 10 seconds. Visit me in S. California to hear for yourself whether or not you would ever spend for them doesn’t matter – it will be a pleasure to hear them and mine to demo them for you.

There, I’ve made my ‘post’ maybe even for the next 6 months.
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Jay

I've had a pair of Magico Minis for maybe six months now. I bought them used on Audiogon at half price. I've owned lots of speakers over the last thirty years and I've heard lots more. Nothing else I've ever heard can touch them in any way, in any parameter. Imaging, clarity, accuracy, pick any of the nouns we use to try to describe the sound of a speaker, any noun at all, and these little monitors are the best at doing that noun that I've ever heard.
Expensive? Oh yes. But they cost what they cost because they do what they do. Anything else is less. I would have spent full price to buy them, once I heard them, I just got lucky enough to get them at a much reduced price.
So there is really no discussion needed here, none at all. These are the best there are. Either someone can afford them or they can't. If they can, they have the best speaker in the world, at least the best I've ever heard. And if they can't afford them, they don't have the best speaker in the world. See how simple it is?

Sorry, Henry. From my experience, I found the MINI to sound big and dynamic. So much that you don't believe that you are listening to a monitor. While they aren't full range, (they do drop off at 40 HZ (?) as Audiorevalation states), the MINI midbass are fuller and more coherent then just about any full range speaker out there.

I believe that the enclosures weigh over 200 pounds, which doesn't seem like much until you consider we are talking about a monitor.

Anyone considering a speaker in that price range owes it to themselves to audition the Magico MINI.

I have owned one of their earlier full range models, the "Magico 3", for the past 6 years and have no regrets. I bought mine used (seller went up the Magico line and bought the "Reference") and have no connection to Mr. Wolf, other than being a very satisfied customer. I am not a dealer, either.

"So, say what you will, the proof is in the listening and when set up right the Minis will put all squabbles to rest in under 10 seconds."

"Nothing else I've ever heard can touch them in any way, in any parameter. Imaging, clarity, accuracy, pick any of the nouns we use to try to describe the sound of a speaker, any noun at all, and these little monitors are the best at doing that noun that I've ever heard."

Well said, guys. This can be said for all Magico speakers and appears to be the Magico "house sound". I've also found that they are some of the most best at detail retrieval, as well. Minute details which are usually obscured are easily heard.

To make this easier ... just listen to them. Form your own first hand impression ... hear them for yourself.

Best wishes,

Jack